Depression among Children of Tibetans in Exile: A Socio-Cultural Perspective

The Tibetan exile community located in India provides refuge to thousands of children living in different care centres located at the small mountainside town known as McLeodganj, Dharamshala-a homeland for them. The primary focus of this study is to explore and analyse the mental health issues, especially depression, among the children of an exiled community from a socio-cultural perspective. Mental health is defined variously from different socio-cultural perspectives. The concept includes, inter alia, subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, inter-generational dependence and self-actualisation of one's intellectual and emotional potential. From a socio-cultural perspective, it is very difficult to define mental health issues comprehensively, especially when it is intimately linked to the social, cultural, religious and political factors of a community which is outside Tibet and is only in the imagination of the children in the form of shared memories and experiences that they have heard from their elder ones. This study is based on semi-structured interviews conducted in the care centres of the Tibetan community-in-exile in Dharamshala. The inputs explore the status of mental illness and distress among the children living in these care centres and the interventions and strategies currently in practice to cope with them. The analyses also focus on the socio-cultural perceptions of mental illness and distress.